As someone who works at a tech/geeksquad type job, we are not special trained. We google everything and are paid minimum wage. Do not take your computer to any retail tech center ever if you want REAL repairs done.
Micro Center will change your opinion on that, if you ever run into one. I was introduced to them by a friend who was working level 3 tech support for an insurance company in the late 1990s, your classic elder geek...and you know if the mid-40s high-level IT guy respects them and their techs, it's likely they've got actual training. 25 years later, though I've done troubleshooting/repair work for income, they're still the place I'll turn to if I'm traveling and don't have my closet of parts and test bed available...and I'll happily drive a couple of hours to get to one if needed.
Love the dedication to finding out what is wrong with the PC. It’s a great service you are providing to your viewers. I’ve learned a ton just watching your videos.
I was banned from Best Buy in 2007. I was in my local Best Buy looking to buy a 1TB WD drive... while checking out those I heard a guy at the Geek Squad counter mention his PC wouldn't turn on ... So the person behind the counter took out a power cord plugged in the PC and yes... Nothing. No lights, no fans, nothing. The Best Buy rep told the man "Sorry it looks like the PC is dead." He went on to say when the power supply died it fried the whole PC. Thus a replacement PC was in order. Well the guy didn't look too happy and nor did he look like he wanted to buy a new PC either. So I turned and said... "Maybe it's just the power supply. Maybe the whole PC is fine?" After much debate with the rep. I said; "Look if it isn't the power supply I will buy the guy a new PC because I was wrong". I went over to the shelf where they had an Antec (I think that was the brand) power supply for less than $100. After they put that power supply in... BOOM the PC started up. The guy was very happy, I was banned from entering the store. After 2007 Best Buy changed it's policies on PC repairs and as we see here... They will charge you to look at but won't fix it. ... :(
@Spank Buda I agree that he should mind his own business but in this moment I can understand why he did that, because the Tech support didn't do their job correctly and they want him to buy a whole new pc just because the PSU is dead which is bad
I've been watching your videos for awhile and Fix or Flop has easily become one of my favorite series on your channel. The videos have given me, an amateur PC building enthusiast, a lot of insight on how to troubleshoot and fix common and not so common problems without a lot of uncertainty and fear. Keep up the good work, my friend!
My first step is checking the power supply, after that comes memory and then the motherboard. It's very rare that a CPU actually bites the dust - well done as usual Greg.
I remember i had a AMD duron with a chipped die and It would still work but generally you would ruin a CPU either with a lot of overvolt or phisically crushing the die when mounting the cooler. Nowadays its a lot easier to wreck the motherboard pins
PC owner, here- I was waiting eagerly for this one to be up, and I can't thank you enough for doing this for me! I learned a lot from this, as well as from the comments section. To expand on the context a bit: • The PC originally had an EVGA non-modular 450W PSU, and I swapped to the 550W a looooooong time after the CPU died because I wanted a fully modular PSU. • The original GPU was an ASRock 5600XT Challenger Pro that I RMA'd, but the exact moment I got the new one, I had to sell it so I could get parts to repair my vehicle • The PC worked perfectly for about 2 weeks (January 2021) • The most "intense" game it ever ran was Skyrim for about 3 seconds (you can't use the SCK without running ES5 at least once), and the rest of the usage was Tera. It... died while running Tera... • Anytime I wasn't using the PC, I turned it off. • GS was my last-ditch attempt, and there was a massive list of troubleshooting attempts before I made that decision My letting it sit for a full year was because I didn't have the money to take it to anyone a second time. 2021 was really rough for a lot of people, me included. To skip a very long sob story... The new PSU was a luxury purchase that took months to save up for, and those UpHere case fans were gifted to me by my sis. I was originally part-timing as a sub for Seminole County, which barely kept a roof over my head while I was doing classes. New Years week, I got a job repairing laptops for Orange County's school district, and I'm doing a lot better.
the cpu is not dead. re watch the video. he uses trouble code for gigabyte aorus master b550.. he is clearly using a msi ace x570. the 90 error code is boot drive error on msi not dead cpu.. hope he kept your cpu is nothing wrong with it. smh. everyone congratulating greg didnt watch the video. he made your pc work.. but at the cost of a new cpu that wasn't needed. as a hardware engineer i assure you his oversight isn't a small slip
I am lost here. I’m guessing that I must have missed something somewhere. Did this system work at one time with the Ryzen 5 3600 CPU in there? I ask that because from what I know, and from what Greg talked about in this video, the motherboard BIOS version was not compatible with that CPU. He had to upgrade the BIOS to a newer version. In order to get the system to even boot up, so that the BIOS could be updated to the newer version, he had to put in and older Ryzen 5 2600 CPU. If this system ever worked with the Ryzen 5 3600 that it had when Greg got it, I don’t know how. I’m lost because it seems to being to be proclaimed that this system was working at one time with the Ryzen 5 3600 in it, and then just quit working. But that should not have been possible at all since the BIOS of this motherboard was not compatible with a 3600. I am lost here. EDIT: Never mind. I should have finished watching the video all the way first. RIGHT AFTER I made this post Greg went into what BIOS the motherboard already had on it, which was a version that was compatible with the Ryzen 5 3600. Sorry, my bad. I shall show myself out.
@@remedialjoe The post code for the B450 motherboard is "Phase transfer to BDS (Boot Device Selection)" this is from the manual and for the x570 it is also "Boot Device Selection (BDS)" this was pulled out of the MEG x570 motherboard manual (is motherboard used and the name given on the side of the box time stamp 26:02 ) meaning- these post codes mean the same thing and according to peoples experiences with this post code it tends to mean that you have a dead CPU which is what that reddit post was saying... so no it is more than likely that this CPU was Dead especially considering the fact that the 3000 series had trouble with CPUs dying in the first place and the fact that it wasn't getting display but a new essentially the same CPU had been installed and it was functioning properly
My hard drive decided to start making this weird sound today but the fact I was able to slowly take apart and figure out where the problem lay is all thanks to you for implementing that into something I can use personally for as long as I’m pc gaming, appreciate you greg. It wasn’t a fix but identifying the problem is a big step for me as I’ve never really torn down a pc piece by piece before.
Being a former Geek Squad agent, I can attest that we were never given the proper tools or equipment to handle or repair custom or pre-built gaming rigs. I would be super surprised if they had an actual test bench and not just some random, old PC. The company is just entirely focused on servicing computers for the everyday-person (doing tune ups, software installs, backups, etc.) The most we would often do at my store, for gaming rigs having issues, is try and find the most likely answer, but our store was certainly more lenient about refunding service costs if we couldn't find a definitive answer for them. There is also a major liability problem that went around while I was there regarding non-Best Buy purchased parts, because if we "broke it", the store is out the money and that's obviously a huge red flag to the higher ups. Anyway, Geek Squad is nearly all about whether or not the labor being used is a direct reflection of the amount of services purchased, and if they were at all behind on their service:hour ratio, him being out the hundred bucks doesn't surprise me -- though that likely wasn't the worker's call, it was their managers'.
Geek Squad basically exists for when Grandma's computer is running slow and Geek Squad takes it and runs Spy Sweeper on it and then hands it back to Grandma along with a $200 bill for "Advanced maintenance" LOL! Such a scam.
I can backup what Darre is saying. Former ARA myself, the tools given to us were primarily for diagnosing software problems and backing up data. Of the roughly 6 months I spent at Geek Squad, I built ONE custom system for a customer, and it was primarily a case swap over.
you should always take your problem to a one man service shop. these big centres never have a clue what they're doing, you might as well throw your money in the fire.
I've had friends with customs builds get scammed too, If you took a car to a mechanic to change the oil and they couldnt figure out how to get the filter off after 12 hours and charged you for it you'd be pissed. its scummy buisness practice no matter how you slice it.
I once took a computer to geek squad and they said I was low on RGB fluid. Said I needed at least 4 quarts and a new RGB fluid filter. But at least I had my timing belt on my motherboard replaced.
You do a fantastic job with this. Production on the videos is excellent and I have learned a lot from the troubleshooting process. I have been building PCs for quite a few years and thankfully I haven't really run into anything I couldn't fix. So watching you troubleshoot these problem PCs gives me a lot more confidence if something does go south. You are doing a great service to the hobby. Thank you!
Finally getting back to pc gaming system! Love learning this educational channel! Unfortunately I experienced Best Buy geek squad they tend not to know the very basics of the computer system
@@TooBokoo at least you guys have tech support in the US, in England we don't even have people to take it too. 😂 You just need to pray that someone you know knows about PCs 🤣🤣
Most of the time they hire them straight off the street (NO IT ,rebuilding of computers training) and there is a list of trys and no not try check list they have...
I built my first system back in September and I want to be ready in case something happens to it. Really appreciate your videos. They're so entertaining yet very informative. Keep up the good work!
He has a huge library of very informative videos when it comes to PCs, and the community of PC-oriented channels on RUclips is a lot more than just one channel. I built my first system in September of 2020, thanks to years of watching channels like Greg's, Paul's Hardware, Gamers Nexus, Bitwit, Dawid Does Tech Stuff, RandomGaminginHD, and OzTalksHW, among others. RUclips is an endless pool of knowledge when it comes to PC building, maintenance, hardware, software, gaming, you name it, especially if you know where to look, and I highly recommend Greg's and all the other channels I listed for anyone interested in PCs!
7:14 Tech Tip... Use the 2 pin connector of the power button on the CMOS jumper to clear the bios... Quick and easy. Put back the power button 2 pin connector when done.
@@exodyno Not every PC these days has a reset switch, so the power button is actually a better suggestion. If I were to use the reset switch on my case, I'd have to add one first....
This was the first video I've seen from your channel, and I'm feeling quite proud that I understood a lot of what you were talking about when you were going through the different parts of the PC. I'm still learning about PC building and hardware. I have a similar NZXT tower as the one in the video, so it felt like looking inside my PC. It confirmed what I'd learned as I installed a new motherboard, video card, and CPU into mine. It was nifty! Plus it was fun problem solving with you. I subscribed because I like how you explain as you go. I really could learn a lot from you. ^^
@@DrBlackJack001 I’m a 16 year old guy who learned basically everything about computers from just yt. It’s simpler than you might think at first. I would first recommend for you to start familiarizing yourself with the basic components such as the cpu, gpu, and etc by just watching build guides from YTers such as Tech Source and Joey Delgado. And if they say things that you are not familiar with, just do some basic research on what that component is and what it does through YT. And then you can just watch videos from LinusTechTips, JayztwoCents, BitWit, GamersNexus, and etc just to learn and see various other parts of PC building.
Always love seeing these, helped a friend a long time ago when his PSU went wonky because it had the same symptoms as one of the builds you tried fixing. Keep up the great work!
Sometimes life works that way, I had an issue that got fixed because of a LTT video that was posted earlier the same day. My computer would not post at all, and had to be brute forced into the BIOS, yet the fix in the video resolved the issue.
Love your fix or flop series. I'm retired and learning computer stuff. Watching the fixit videos give me clues and understanding how these things work. I've built two computers and they are working great but who knows in the future! I might get to fix the computer for the widow down the street. Wink, wink.
Absolutely love this series. Can I ask though how we can troubleshoot if we don’t have spare parts lying around to test with? Thanks man, this is such great content. Keep it up!
With much difficulty. Having spare parts does make it sooooooo much easier. I have a cheap B450 motherboard just for trouble shooting the few AMD systems I have built. It came in very handy when I had to trouble shoot my daughter's fiancé's build. His build came down to being either a motherboard or a CPU issue. Thanks to having that cheap B450 board I was able to eliminate his motherboard. If you have a good friend with a similar system, you can ask them if they can lend you a stick of their memory to test that the way Greg did in the video.
If it was just the GPU that was the issue, then the computer should still boot as normally and you should see the HDD indicator light blink and the fans ramping up and down as the CPU usage changes as it boots. Generally, if the PSU was bad, the PC either won't turn on at all or cause you problems down the line after booting. RAM and HDD problems will generally show up as an error on the screen or after it boots. It really is 50/50 if the problem is the motherboard or the CPU and you basically can't know for sure until to swap a part out. A visual inspection of the motherboard for any damaged parts might clue you in if the motherboard is the problem, but motherboard issues can also be invisible. If you don't know anyone with a spare CPU or mobo you can swap to test, then I would suggest you buy the cheapest compatible CPU/mobo you can find and test it.
It's fun and satisfying to watch these troubleshooting/repair vids. And sometimes it's fun to be the one doing the troubleshooting. Unless it's your own PC. Or even worse, not your PC. Or you don't have all the spare parts you'd need. Or the diagnostic tools. Or the time. Or the motivation.
I am a former bestbuy canada employee, the geek squad is not trained and is not certified , they do not take certification tests, and only have to have one regional person with certifications who covers the legal need for certification for an entire region thats about 100 stores
I stopped going to BestBuy once they stopped being a computer retailer and became a cellphone store. Memory Express is still superior as a computer parts supplier though.
As always, great video Greg! Appreciate the hard work diagnosing the issues. You really create a great learning session that is enjoyable to follow along. I hope to never have this issue but feel I’m well educated watching this and your other great vids. Thanks for the show and keep up the great work!
Hey Greg, this is by far my favorite series so far and I'm always so excited to watch and learn from a new video from Fix or Flop. Please keep this series going and continue to make content! Have a good day!
I'm very surprised it was a dead processor. I've been working with and building computers since I was 10 (now 26) and through all those years I've never once seen a dead processor that wasn't physically damaged. It's almost always the motherboard or GPU these days. I'm not a regular watcher of your channel and I have to commend you for doing this for a viewer. You took a very logical approach without recklessly swapping parts in and out. It makes for great content and saves the viewer a lot of time and money. I wish more channels would make this a regular thing, although it would have to be a raffle as I'm sure there's too many requests for one person to fulfill.
I can watch your diagnostic videos for hours. A great job of narrowing it down to the CPU. A classic it's never the CPU until it is moment. This sort of reminds me of your video of the CPU with one bad memory channel. It can get very strange sometimes in the world of PC repair. Thanks for another great video!
Excellent job Greg! There's nothing more shocking than a dead CPU. I've been fortunate enough to have never seen one myself in over 30 years of PC building and servicing. I know how annoying that this can be and I salute you for your determined efforts. I think that this will be an extremely successful series for you and I really like it because you really are helping people who don't know where to turn. (I mean, really, GEEK SQUAD???)
Yeah, same here I've repaired many computers but I have never come across a dead CPU in the last 30 years at least none that I can remember. The main deaths I see are hardrives ram slots even pci-e slot motherboards but never a CPU. When I went through the course the main call used to be no OS than you just tell them to take the floppy drive out. ;)
I've seen a dead CPU only from like, e-waste salvage. Usually stuff that's been left out in the elements before being broken down for parts - the CPU works fine during initial testing when the reseller pops it into a test bench, but the stress of actual sustained workloads pushes it over the edge and it dies after being used for actual work.
I've had 3 dead processors in 31 years of building and servicing. First was a Pentium D dual core, second was a Ryzen 2600, last was a 13600k. Geek Squad was a massive contributor to my client list over the years, because of their poor customer service. lol
i like this series dude... i have 2 years saving for my new pc.. i hope to get it this year... it allways scares me this thing because in other country if the cpu or mobo are incompatible i'll have problems... said that... awesome work here
saddly he is incorrect. the error code 90 is boot device on msi boards not cpu error as he looked up. it really helps to take the time to use the proper manufactures codes.. using gigabyte as he did on a msi board will not help. he really dropped the ball and its clear if u look at the forum he looked up. gigabyte aorus master b550 forum.. LOL lets buy a new cpu because drive is broken , then still "upgrade" the drive to fix it.. anyways keep learning even if its by watching others mistakes
I watch a lot of youtube troubleshooter videos (Ive been a tech myself for the last 42 years), and allow me to say that you are a good man. The fact that you dont charge these users says a lot from you.. .keep up the good work.
This is an awesome educational video. I love computers but I am still very green in my knowledge of building computers and troubleshooting. Thank you for being so in depth. Now I know what to do if I get a similar issue.
I'm human! I've made plenty of mistakes. I've been a real prick to some folks. But I'm working to mature and help others wherever I can with the position I have in the content creator space. Our advertisers are also a huge help here :-)
@@GregSalazar sometimes people needs some tough love and be told this is how it is going to be-if your talking about the guy who wanted you to help but you kindly denied and sent you a nasty email he really deserved it to be frank, you might be human but your kindness sometimes gets in your way even on pc simulator /HAHAHA one stick of ram- your spending too much.......
Great video as always. I knew a 29 minute video wouldn't just be the simple solutions. I wanted to let you know that the Crucial SSD product placement was fantastic, a nice upgrade that will improve performance, and a surprise that the PC owner wasn't expecting.
Former Geek Squad agent here (2008-2013). How good Geek Squad can be can vary wildly from store to store as the quality of the repairs you get depend on how good the technicians working on the stuff are. My store had mostly PC gaming & IT repair enthusiasts so we were damn good whether we had the right tools or not. But I eventually quit because management and corporate changed the way geek squad operates and made them far more sales oriented than repair oriented and I disagreed with that move. It horribly hampered us. Looks like that didn't get any better. Geek Squad gets alot of blind hate, unfortunately, but they certainly haven't done themselves any favors over the years.
Hi Greg, you can always use that small speaker. Attach it to any motherboard, listen to the beeps and then refer to user manual and look for that specific beep code to figure out what it means. You don't need that 7-segment LED display.
I’ve been building, maintaining, basic diagnosing (like here in Greg’s videos), upgrading etc all my pc for almost 25years as well as for family and friends as I enjoy the challenge of solving the problem. I can understand peoples frustration with this Geek Squad …. I assume is a US only based service …. But unlike one of Greg’s videos edited to fit a 20-35min time slot, some diagnosing can take minutes to hours to resolve depending on the situation … for example a GPU issue can be found generally within 30 mins (I have spare parts around to test in other systems) but if it’s a software issue in addition to a hardware issue and new motherboard is required, then a back up and software reinstall of Windows etc is needed….once you do all the drivers, software updates, programs etc …. You can spend an entire day. If you were to bill someone for that time and quote them a $200-$300USD for your time im sure many would be p’d off like what happens with many car services. I guess that’s why Geek Squad would do the quick tests and simply say “not worth the time” …. I don’t agree with it, but I understand why.
Understand why, don't understand why. Not the problem. Taking money from someone after giving the shittiest customer service imaginable isn't just unethical, it's also scummy and should be illegal.
This is such a professional channel. The fact that he wears gloves during the build/troubleshooting shows the care taken to do it correctly. LOVE THIS CHANNEL!
What I absolutely love about you is the fact that you are not at all cocky about what you do. There’s many people who believe they are high and mighty because they can troubleshoot severe PC problems, and desire everyone to pat them on the back. You’re different though, you take something that you really love doing and make it work in a way that I don’t think anybody else could. Can anybody learn hardware and software troubleshooting on computers? Absolutely. But your unique twist And humble attitude make everything you do incredibly entertaining to watch. Thank you!
As soon as I saw the Wraith Stealth cooler in there, and it's an ASRock motherboard, I knew the CPU was dead. The problem may have been a dead CPU; however, what killed the CPU most likely is a combination of the motherboard's fan speed default to "Silent" and the Wraith Stealth not being a good option for the scenario. When running the Wraith Stealth on ASRock's "Silent" speed, on the R5 3600, you will get 50°C+ on idle and 85°C up to 95°C under load! That combo does not tolerate a full 10 minutes multi-core test on Cinebench. I know this because I just spotted this problem on my build. What I did is I changed the CPU fan speed to "Standard". That with the Wraith Stealth gives you 35°C on idle and about 80°C to 85°C under load with Cinebench test. Still hot. So, I installed a heatsink with dual fans. Now it's really cool at 22°C on idle and 55°C under load during Cinebench test. I highly recommend this person to upgrade their cooling solution ASAP, and change their CPU fan speeds in the BIOS accordingly.
@@AlbionSupreme I emailed Greg about it because I would hate to see the same person go through the same thing. However, no response yet. Also, it is something all PC owners that push their hardware should be aware of; thermals are a serious thing. I hope the new CPU is okay.
@@GregSalazar Great Video Greg. What are your thoughts on New York States Right to Repair bill AKA S4104A? Which passed the Legislature in the fist session fo the 2021-2022 term.
Back in 2019 I bought a PC from Best Buy, lesson learned, and I put the HDMI in the motherboard instead of the Graphics Card. I was fairly new to pc building so I called geek squad and I remember this woman giving me an attitude like I was suppose to know this already. A year later I found out that every single part in the pc needed to be replaced so basically paid for a second pc 😑😑😑 and it took me years to finally do it and its a BEAST!!!
if the cpu was always connected to fan cpu2 and not the primary fan controller, I would imagine it was probably overheating intermittently and finally did it in
In my experience these are the parts that break first: PSU (Often overtaxed crud stock PSUs, especially from HP or Dell) Main Board (It happens. Usually it is a component on the board and not the whole board.) CPU (though increasingly less so... usually from fan failure and burned out in the past.) RAM (I've bought ram that was bad.... I believe this may be the only bad ram I've ever encountered outside of a few sticks from a batch of a thousand used RAM that I got). Laptops are a different story. Typically someone spills something into it so that kind of damage winds up being anything and people routinely break screens and hinges. People who don't take care of electronics have no business owning a laptop computer. They often will place them on a pillow or bedding covering up the cooling fans and exhaust. People are so dumb!!!!
In 27 years of building PCs.... I need 2 hands to count all the CPU failures I've seen.... They are typically the least common failure point, but it does happen.
Intel gets ALOT of flack. But AMD to me is kinda garbage on the QC side. I had a faulty CPU that kept playing trick to make you BELIEVE, that it worked and the Motherboard was at fault. Once I bought a more expensive AMD CPU for another project - WALA ! No more crashes/blue screens/no nothing. I had a B550 board that would NOT let me update the BIOS, no matter what. I used the 2nd CPU, not the 1st one and it worked. I "believe" AMD needs to get rid of pins or PC building should just get rid of pins, overall.
@@Bonzi_Buddy About that with the laptops I would argue is the people designing the cooling layout that are making a bad job there :P The whole point of having a laptop is being able to put it in your "lap" (or pillow or whatever space you have around you)
I'm always betting with my friends what might be wrong after having the problems described. We both don't know much about PCs so it's just funny guessing. Anyway great video there, love the dedication :D
you don't "use" power from the battery to clear CMOS... you discharge the battery power that's keeping CMOS data active. Removing the battery is a way to clear CMOS too.
Always update the BIOS prior to installing newer CPU's in older mobo's... especially on the AMD platform.. In this type of situation one should have started at the core of the system ie. the CPU. @Greg, you could get yourself a POST card, a mainstay of our troubleshooting kits, as the average motherboard does not have the diagnostics display and or connect a speaker to the 'board as beep codes are generally widely available as well
I just had an awesome Best Buy in store customer support experience, literally today, about an hour ago. I ordered an "open box excellent" HP 11 Windows tablet with keyboard cover. When I received it in the mail today, it was missing the power adapter. I explained the situation to the Best Buy customer service team at my local Best Buy. Within 5 minutes, I was out the door with a brand new exchange of the same product, an apology, and a thank you. One of the best customer service experiences I have ever had. Located in Central Valley of CA. Granted it wasn't a tech support issue, but still... pretty great.
It's true that diagnosing should be much easier, letting the PC idle for more than 1 year is unfortunate. Even experienced person like you have to jump through the hoops to identify the issue tells it all.
Back in the day, and I still have one in mine, there was a speaker you plugged into MOBOs that beeps once when the system posts, or has various different beeping patterns for CPU/RAM/etc. issues. It would have picked this up within seconds of powering the system on and spat out the proper error beeps. It's really a shame they're not common anymore.
This doesn't look complicated at all. 20 years ago we had a mainboard, on it you had a Motherboard, and you had an additional expansion card for each kind of extra features you wanted. Graphics card, Sound card (with connector for CDROM), network card, input card for DV cams. Each card used some IRQ, you had to manage it yourself since the allocation was not handled automatically. You didn't have enough memory, so you had to decide which drivers you load to low mem or high mem. For coaxial networking you had to CUT the cable at exact lengths or the signal would get corrupted. You had to terminate the cable with 75Ohms. A booting computer was a miracle. Today it is so easy. Case, PSU, GPU, CPU, Ram, Cooling (and storage). You have to swap each of those until you find the one that was causing the problem. Going through like 5-6 hardware components is not hard. It doesn't take too much time as well. The only requirement is having all the hardware on hand to perform the swaps which is something that most users don't have laying around like that. I think that Greg's approach is the correct one. Down to the very first moment where he validates everything the customer said. Believe nothing. Test everything yourself. this is how things get done and resolve in any topic.
@@remedialjoe He's looking at a forum post for a board that uses an AMI UEFI firmware, for AMI UEFI error codes...... AMI BIOS and UEFI all use the same error codes, regardless of motherboard model.
@@razorshark4 Haven't done coax networking in at least 2 decades.....but as "mainboard" and "motherboard" are synonyms, I don't recall having a system with 2..... My oldest system was an 8088 powered Packard Bell XT system..... It used a mainboard, a sound card, soldered ram, a serial port card, a parallel port card, a video display card (wasn't called a graphics card back then), and a PATA interface card..... The CPU was even soldered to the mainboard. Every expansion card was inserted into an ISA slot.... The only port connected to the mainboard was for the keyboard. Early Pentium systems had a special slot for a "COAST" or "cache on a stick" expansion card.... First generation Celeron and Pentium 3 processors installed like ram..... The processor was soldered to a card that installed in a slot on the motherboard.....
Asrock says they do not recomend using the bios versions for 5000 series on older cpus ryzen 3000 etc. It was stated in the yellow text on the download website. So even though it supports 5000 series doesen't mean it supports 3000 or 2000 etc
3000 series was called Matisse, which is not listed in the yellow text. Zen 2 CPUs still benefit from the newer AGESA versions and I have yet to see a B450/X470 or B550/X570(S) BIOS that does not support Zen 2 CPUs.
this guy should have more than 1 million subscribers!! I feel like Im working with him in each episode. Like wow his attention to detail is amazing. I find myself talking like if Im in the room with him lol. "Do you think it might be the mobo?" 😅
I must say the gen 4 nvme going into a gen 3 board was the most searched for response from me that Ive been looking for awhile on google. The moment you pulled up with that, It was almost poetic, I was so happy to hear that! Definitely gonna make looking for nvmes a lot more simpler now.
Greg, you're a good dude. I've learned quite a bit from you and was able to build my first pc last summer without any hiccups with the knowledge bestowed upon me from your videos. You upgrade peoples hardware with no cost to the pc owner and fix their broken pc. All around standup guy.
@Greg Salazar I am writing this before seeing the full video, but I had a similar problem in the past where all the fans would light up and spin but it wouldn't post, I thought the problem was with the motherboard after checking with another RAM stick and removing the GPU, but the problem was with the power supply, more precisely 1 3.3v wire from the 24 connector that goes to the motherboard. I replaced the PSU then and didn't think about it for a while but I found out about the wire when I needed a PSU for a project and I had to check each wire individually.
I have been enjoying your repair videos. I am old to computers, but new to Ryzen, and the moment you said it had no graphics capability without a card I thought aha the Ryzen 5 3600, which was one of the few processors without graphics that I actually ended up with, I had no graphics with my discreet fanless GPU. I gave the card to a shop to test if it was the card, and it worked for them. Put it back in my system and it has worked flawlessly ever since... As a mostly office type PC with Video recording and photo processing, it has been a great tool.
I've been subscribed for a while Greg and I fully enjoy your videos and your diagnostic skills of broken pc's and also the build videos, cheers for your time making them, cheers from Australia.
0:09 you see the top 2 fans and the back fan(not the cpu fan) . and the 3 on the front. if there is 3. there is on mine, anyway. which way are they supposed to be facing ?
Video was quite informative actually, gf's gaming pc is also not displaying anything but a black screen. While i dont have the money or components to check the cpu or motherboard its definitely good to finally find a video that explored more than just the graphics card or resetting the bios. You've earned a subscribe my good sir!
Nice Job! I'm working on two computers with similar problems. It's always nice when you have enough parts to switch out. Nice video that I'm sure will help many people.
Had the same problem here. I was messaging around with voltage in the MOBO one day with my 3600x and next thing you know, I got no POST. Luckily, had warranty on MOBO + CPU, so decided to ship them in RMA. Few weeks later came back new and back to running again.
before watching this video i think its broken pins on motherboard or need a bios update or if its amd the cpu pins are messed up. or just need to clear the CMOS
Well, we don't have Geek Squad at my place here, but i overheard conversation at my local pc store with costumer, and just to format a PC cost roughly 12 usd..i just like...WHAT!!??
I troubleshoot very much like you when a friend comes to me with a PC problem, but I sure don't have a PSU tester. I have been in to computers for a long time, and I don't know how i haven't heard more about them... That is a neat gadget for sure. I'm impressed. If you don't mind me asking, how much does one generally cost? Great content, thank you!
I would always recommend getting a motherboard speaker connector kit. This allows you to connect to the motherboard speaker pins and listen to the beep codes. Many a faulty CPU/RAM/GPU combination was found using this technique. Shame the newer motherboards stopped shipping built in speakers. Update: I just saw he had one sitting on the desk right corner around the 12:00 minute mark
I had the same computer and it melted down and had the exact same problem!!!! Geek squad could not fix, and luckily I had a warranty and got store credit. My card was a 3080, but I could not get a picture to my screen. It just stopped working after 5 months. Glad to know it wasent something I did.
So funny thing about what you said around the 20:15 mark, my original CPU in my latest build was this same one and lasted all of two weeks maybe before it died, with no outside interference or changes. Not as rare as it may seem to be sometimes
I used to work in a small internet cafe that also sold PC parts/basic systems and stuff. This was back in about 2004, and we would charge what amounts to 5 USD as an inspection fee to cover a basic once-over on faulty machines. Check/swap ram, GPU, PSU etc. We would try the obvious, if it was something else we told them to book it in so we could invest more time on it, but that cost more obviously. $100 just sounds crazy to me for someone to spend 10 minutes looking at a machine and saying "nope".
Been building PC's since the late 90's. Enjoy your videos, let's people know that there are many options and things to check. You all have the power to fix things! lol
I had an issue like this when I was young and knew nothing about computers. I sat on the floor with a screw driver and began what has been 25 years of learning. Sometimes it's best to tackle the issues on your own. I'm glad I did though because now I build all my own machines
Greg, don't know if someone already commented, but when you unplug HDMI cable from GPU in order to plug it in different HDMI slot, you need to power cycle in order to get picture out. If you were in Windows, that wouldn't be a problem.
Now that's very rare problem with a computer. I think I might got the same just once in my current working years (over 15 years). And I do need to get that kind of motherboard where it shows error messages for the testbenching. Cheers for a great video!
I swapped in a 1080ti to my system the other day, and then switched CPU's too. Pc turned on but no display. Then i remembered had to probably update the Display Port firmware on the card as it was older. CMOS reset got me into the system thank god, updated DP firmware, all done! I love having so many different issues with my personal PC as it increases my problem solving skills for others I build for Display port is notorious for being finicky. 30 series cards never have issues showing display right away. Motherboard legacy mode support being off is also another issue ive run into thats very annoying. Just some food for thought Keep helping out the little guys Greg!
I've been working on systems for the last 30 years and have troubleshot many many issues. You video series is great for those people who less experienced or those in a bind. Thank you!
As a former PC repair tech, I am refreshed that someone actually has good diagnostic skills. One thing that really does concern me is the messing around with fans whilst the machine is powered on. Micro sparking can and frequently does create surges that dont do circuits any good. Personally everything thats not connected stay disconnected till its powered off and the mains lead is out.
Man I love your videos so much, I been learning a lots, you have no idea how much I appreciate you, you're a legend for the PC gamers, well actually not only us, the whole PC community, from gamers, to editor's, hopefully God bless you with many many many years of life not only for us to enjoy your content, but for your family to have such a nice human being as a husband and as a dad.
Great Video! Had a similar issue with a new build and it ended up being a firmware issue! Took me three days to fix because I don't have extra chips hanging around and had to order it. Enjoyed reliving sucess!
Former Geek Squad advanced repair agent here. At GS we never worked on hardware issues that could not be fixed with a product sold in the store. We could replace SSDs, HDDs, CMOS, RAM, and some other basic components. If we did not have the product in the store, it could get shipped out to a repair facility in Kentucky for a high price. It's not that "all GS precincts are bad" its that some do not have advanced repair agents and only have consultation agents (repair agents do repairs, consultation agents check in the PC and diagnose it).
See you RUclips computer guys are so much better to give broken pc to because this is you're guys passion unlike geek squad where it's there job. You guys take every step possible. So idk who's pc this is but I wanna say thank you for your passion
As someone who works at a tech/geeksquad type job, we are not special trained. We google everything and are paid minimum wage. Do not take your computer to any retail tech center ever if you want REAL repairs done.
Micro Center will change your opinion on that, if you ever run into one. I was introduced to them by a friend who was working level 3 tech support for an insurance company in the late 1990s, your classic elder geek...and you know if the mid-40s high-level IT guy respects them and their techs, it's likely they've got actual training. 25 years later, though I've done troubleshooting/repair work for income, they're still the place I'll turn to if I'm traveling and don't have my closet of parts and test bed available...and I'll happily drive a couple of hours to get to one if needed.
Love the dedication to finding out what is wrong with the PC. It’s a great service you are providing to your viewers. I’ve learned a ton just watching your videos.
I was banned from Best Buy in 2007. I was in my local Best Buy looking to buy a 1TB WD drive... while checking out those I heard a guy at the Geek Squad counter mention his PC wouldn't turn on ... So the person behind the counter took out a power cord plugged in the PC and yes... Nothing. No lights, no fans, nothing. The Best Buy rep told the man "Sorry it looks like the PC is dead." He went on to say when the power supply died it fried the whole PC. Thus a replacement PC was in order. Well the guy didn't look too happy and nor did he look like he wanted to buy a new PC either. So I turned and said... "Maybe it's just the power supply. Maybe the whole PC is fine?" After much debate with the rep. I said; "Look if it isn't the power supply I will buy the guy a new PC because I was wrong". I went over to the shelf where they had an Antec (I think that was the brand) power supply for less than $100. After they put that power supply in... BOOM the PC started up. The guy was very happy, I was banned from entering the store. After 2007 Best Buy changed it's policies on PC repairs and as we see here... They will charge you to look at but won't fix it. ... :(
Sad if true, but a decent story regardless.
@Spank Buda I agree that he should mind his own business but in this moment I can understand why he did that, because the Tech support didn't do their job correctly and they want him to buy a whole new pc just because the PSU is dead which is bad
@Spank Buda BestBuy couldn't rip off of the customer as they "planned to do", hence the ban.
okay why and how do people tell all these hogwash stories because I'm sure that him getting banned never happened lol
Wtf that is appalling!
I've been watching your videos for awhile and Fix or Flop has easily become one of my favorite series on your channel. The videos have given me, an amateur PC building enthusiast, a lot of insight on how to troubleshoot and fix common and not so common problems without a lot of uncertainty and fear. Keep up the good work, my friend!
My first step is checking the power supply, after that comes memory and then the motherboard. It's very rare that a CPU actually bites the dust - well done as usual Greg.
a dead CPU is rare but it seems frequent when you watch this series lol
I remember i had a AMD duron with a chipped die and It would still work but generally you would ruin a CPU either with a lot of overvolt or phisically crushing the die when mounting the cooler. Nowadays its a lot easier to wreck the motherboard pins
PC owner, here- I was waiting eagerly for this one to be up, and I can't thank you enough for doing this for me! I learned a lot from this, as well as from the comments section.
To expand on the context a bit:
• The PC originally had an EVGA non-modular 450W PSU, and I swapped to the 550W a looooooong time after the CPU died because I wanted a fully modular PSU.
• The original GPU was an ASRock 5600XT Challenger Pro that I RMA'd, but the exact moment I got the new one, I had to sell it so I could get parts to repair my vehicle
• The PC worked perfectly for about 2 weeks (January 2021)
• The most "intense" game it ever ran was Skyrim for about 3 seconds (you can't use the SCK without running ES5 at least once), and the rest of the usage was Tera. It... died while running Tera...
• Anytime I wasn't using the PC, I turned it off.
• GS was my last-ditch attempt, and there was a massive list of troubleshooting attempts before I made that decision
My letting it sit for a full year was because I didn't have the money to take it to anyone a second time. 2021 was really rough for a lot of people, me included. To skip a very long sob story... The new PSU was a luxury purchase that took months to save up for, and those UpHere case fans were gifted to me by my sis.
I was originally part-timing as a sub for Seminole County, which barely kept a roof over my head while I was doing classes. New Years week, I got a job repairing laptops for Orange County's school district, and I'm doing a lot better.
the cpu is not dead. re watch the video. he uses trouble code for gigabyte aorus master b550.. he is clearly using a msi ace x570. the 90 error code is boot drive error on msi not dead cpu.. hope he kept your cpu is nothing wrong with it. smh. everyone congratulating greg didnt watch the video. he made your pc work.. but at the cost of a new cpu that wasn't needed. as a hardware engineer i assure you his oversight isn't a small slip
Well if it couldn't boot of off a drive it still should have POSTed and the error should have shown up on the screen.
I am lost here. I’m guessing that I must have missed something somewhere.
Did this system work at one time with the Ryzen 5 3600 CPU in there? I ask that because from what I know, and from what Greg talked about in this video, the motherboard BIOS version was not compatible with that CPU. He had to upgrade the BIOS to a newer version. In order to get the system to even boot up, so that the BIOS could be updated to the newer version, he had to put in and older Ryzen 5 2600 CPU.
If this system ever worked with the Ryzen 5 3600 that it had when Greg got it, I don’t know how. I’m lost because it seems to being to be proclaimed that this system was working at one time with the Ryzen 5 3600 in it, and then just quit working. But that should not have been possible at all since the BIOS of this motherboard was not compatible with a 3600.
I am lost here.
EDIT: Never mind. I should have finished watching the video all the way first. RIGHT AFTER I made this post Greg went into what BIOS the motherboard already had on it, which was a version that was compatible with the Ryzen 5 3600. Sorry, my bad. I shall show myself out.
@@remedialjoe The post code for the B450 motherboard is "Phase transfer to BDS (Boot Device Selection)" this is from the manual and for the x570 it is also "Boot Device Selection (BDS)" this was pulled out of the MEG x570 motherboard manual (is motherboard used and the name given on the side of the box time stamp 26:02 ) meaning- these post codes mean the same thing and according to peoples experiences with this post code it tends to mean that you have a dead CPU which is what that reddit post was saying... so no it is more than likely that this CPU was Dead especially considering the fact that the 3000 series had trouble with CPUs dying in the first place and the fact that it wasn't getting display but a new essentially the same CPU had been installed and it was functioning properly
Edit: if this is not obvious I meant, The post code for the x570 not "The post code for the B450 " at the start
My hard drive decided to start making this weird sound today but the fact I was able to slowly take apart and figure out where the problem lay is all thanks to you for implementing that into something I can use personally for as long as I’m pc gaming, appreciate you greg. It wasn’t a fix but identifying the problem is a big step for me as I’ve never really torn down a pc piece by piece before.
This process of elimination mindset is the core of all troubleshooting. Theoretically you can now get a job in IT ;)
Being a former Geek Squad agent, I can attest that we were never given the proper tools or equipment to handle or repair custom or pre-built gaming rigs. I would be super surprised if they had an actual test bench and not just some random, old PC. The company is just entirely focused on servicing computers for the everyday-person (doing tune ups, software installs, backups, etc.) The most we would often do at my store, for gaming rigs having issues, is try and find the most likely answer, but our store was certainly more lenient about refunding service costs if we couldn't find a definitive answer for them. There is also a major liability problem that went around while I was there regarding non-Best Buy purchased parts, because if we "broke it", the store is out the money and that's obviously a huge red flag to the higher ups. Anyway, Geek Squad is nearly all about whether or not the labor being used is a direct reflection of the amount of services purchased, and if they were at all behind on their service:hour ratio, him being out the hundred bucks doesn't surprise me -- though that likely wasn't the worker's call, it was their managers'.
Geek Squad basically exists for when Grandma's computer is running slow and Geek Squad takes it and runs Spy Sweeper on it and then hands it back to Grandma along with a $200 bill for "Advanced maintenance" LOL! Such a scam.
I can backup what Darre is saying. Former ARA myself, the tools given to us were primarily for diagnosing software problems and backing up data. Of the roughly 6 months I spent at Geek Squad, I built ONE custom system for a customer, and it was primarily a case swap over.
you should always take your problem to a one man service shop. these big centres never have a clue what they're doing, you might as well throw your money in the fire.
This should be pinned
I've had friends with customs builds get scammed too, If you took a car to a mechanic to change the oil and they couldnt figure out how to get the filter off after 12 hours and charged you for it you'd be pissed. its scummy buisness practice no matter how you slice it.
I once took a computer to geek squad and they said I was low on RGB fluid. Said I needed at least 4 quarts and a new RGB fluid filter. But at least I had my timing belt on my motherboard replaced.
Did you check your blinker fluid on your car as well 😅
@@edcdad1124 I topped it off, then upgraded to 64 GB's of RAM on my Intake Manifold.
username checks out
Just screw with confidence :)
Geeksquad doesn't do that type of work not in their scope of work. Not sure why that agent told you that. Smh
You do a fantastic job with this. Production on the videos is excellent and I have learned a lot from the troubleshooting process. I have been building PCs for quite a few years and thankfully I haven't really run into anything I couldn't fix. So watching you troubleshoot these problem PCs gives me a lot more confidence if something does go south. You are doing a great service to the hobby. Thank you!
Finally getting back to pc gaming system! Love learning this educational channel! Unfortunately I experienced Best Buy geek squad they tend not to know the very basics of the computer system
That's giving them too much credit. They don't even know the basics. Lol
@@TooBokoo at least you guys have tech support in the US, in England we don't even have people to take it too. 😂 You just need to pray that someone you know knows about PCs 🤣🤣
@@wantmoresauce12 You're prob better off doing that or just start guessing and poking your PC with metal prods. 😄
Most of the time they hire them straight off the street (NO IT ,rebuilding of computers training) and there is a list of trys and no not try check list they have...
@@wantmoresauce12 i agree im from England and it always oh yeah me mates mate knows his shit on computers ill ask him Lmao
I built my first system back in September and I want to be ready in case something happens to it. Really appreciate your videos. They're so entertaining yet very informative. Keep up the good work!
He has a huge library of very informative videos when it comes to PCs, and the community of PC-oriented channels on RUclips is a lot more than just one channel. I built my first system in September of 2020, thanks to years of watching channels like Greg's, Paul's Hardware, Gamers Nexus, Bitwit, Dawid Does Tech Stuff, RandomGaminginHD, and OzTalksHW, among others. RUclips is an endless pool of knowledge when it comes to PC building, maintenance, hardware, software, gaming, you name it, especially if you know where to look, and I highly recommend Greg's and all the other channels I listed for anyone interested in PCs!
7:14 Tech Tip... Use the 2 pin connector of the power button on the CMOS jumper to clear the bios... Quick and easy. Put back the power button 2 pin connector when done.
Better yet, use the reset switch instead. XD
@@exodyno Not every PC these days has a reset switch, so the power button is actually a better suggestion. If I were to use the reset switch on my case, I'd have to add one first....
Can I use my hands?
Bringing your PC in for repairs at Best Buy is like bringing your car into a macdonalds for an oil change.
ha ha ha......may I quote you on that? 🤣🤣😂😂
😂😂😂😂😂😂 still broken like our ice cream machine.
This was the first video I've seen from your channel, and I'm feeling quite proud that I understood a lot of what you were talking about when you were going through the different parts of the PC. I'm still learning about PC building and hardware. I have a similar NZXT tower as the one in the video, so it felt like looking inside my PC. It confirmed what I'd learned as I installed a new motherboard, video card, and CPU into mine. It was nifty! Plus it was fun problem solving with you. I subscribed because I like how you explain as you go. I really could learn a lot from you. ^^
I'm about to dive into PC building myself, did you learn from RUclips videos? Any channels you could recommend if you don't mind?
@@DrBlackJack001 I’m a 16 year old guy who learned basically everything about computers from just yt. It’s simpler than you might think at first. I would first recommend for you to start familiarizing yourself with the basic components such as the cpu, gpu, and etc by just watching build guides from YTers such as Tech Source and Joey Delgado. And if they say things that you are not familiar with, just do some basic research on what that component is and what it does through YT. And then you can just watch videos from LinusTechTips, JayztwoCents, BitWit, GamersNexus, and etc just to learn and see various other parts of PC building.
Always love seeing these, helped a friend a long time ago when his PSU went wonky because it had the same symptoms as one of the builds you tried fixing. Keep up the great work!
what was the fix?
@@lesipapo7876 Replacing the PSU cause it wasn't delivering enough power lol.
@@VEN0M415 damn good job tho
Sometimes life works that way, I had an issue that got fixed because of a LTT video that was posted earlier the same day.
My computer would not post at all, and had to be brute forced into the BIOS, yet the fix in the video resolved the issue.
Love your fix or flop series. I'm retired and learning computer stuff. Watching the fixit videos give me clues and understanding how these things work. I've built two computers and they are working great but who knows in the future! I might get to fix the computer for the widow down the street. Wink, wink.
Absolutely love this series. Can I ask though how we can troubleshoot if we don’t have spare parts lying around to test with? Thanks man, this is such great content. Keep it up!
With much difficulty. Having spare parts does make it sooooooo much easier. I have a cheap B450 motherboard just for trouble shooting the few AMD systems I have built. It came in very handy when I had to trouble shoot my daughter's fiancé's build. His build came down to being either a motherboard or a CPU issue. Thanks to having that cheap B450 board I was able to eliminate his motherboard. If you have a good friend with a similar system, you can ask them if they can lend you a stick of their memory to test that the way Greg did in the video.
I always keep an old motherboard and chip for just checking other parts
If it was just the GPU that was the issue, then the computer should still boot as normally and you should see the HDD indicator light blink and the fans ramping up and down as the CPU usage changes as it boots. Generally, if the PSU was bad, the PC either won't turn on at all or cause you problems down the line after booting. RAM and HDD problems will generally show up as an error on the screen or after it boots. It really is 50/50 if the problem is the motherboard or the CPU and you basically can't know for sure until to swap a part out. A visual inspection of the motherboard for any damaged parts might clue you in if the motherboard is the problem, but motherboard issues can also be invisible. If you don't know anyone with a spare CPU or mobo you can swap to test, then I would suggest you buy the cheapest compatible CPU/mobo you can find and test it.
Ask a friend to help swapping parts to test I guess
It's fun and satisfying to watch these troubleshooting/repair vids. And sometimes it's fun to be the one doing the troubleshooting. Unless it's your own PC. Or even worse, not your PC. Or you don't have all the spare parts you'd need. Or the diagnostic tools. Or the time. Or the motivation.
I am a former bestbuy canada employee, the geek squad is not trained and is not certified , they do not take certification tests, and only have to have one regional person with certifications who covers the legal need for certification for an entire region thats about 100 stores
I stopped going to BestBuy once they stopped being a computer retailer and became a cellphone store. Memory Express is still superior as a computer parts supplier though.
As always, great video Greg! Appreciate the hard work diagnosing the issues. You really create a great learning session that is enjoyable to follow along. I hope to never have this issue but feel I’m well educated watching this and your other great vids. Thanks for the show and keep up the great work!
I appreciate that!
Would you ever consider using a motherboard speaker for these motherboards without debug LEDs?
Early on I was thinking the same thing but later in the video I saw a beeper speaker on the table after he unplugged everything.
I still have one of those. My kids' computer doesn't, and having it start up without the beep is weird to me.
This is the best idea! Can save time and effort if you heard the beep codes before digging in.
I was thinking the same thing, I miss having those as they were great for troubleshooting.
I have one on my Testbench for when I am testing Motherboards without LEDs
Hey Greg, this is by far my favorite series so far and I'm always so excited to watch and learn from a new video from Fix or Flop. Please keep this series going and continue to make content! Have a good day!
I'm very surprised it was a dead processor. I've been working with and building computers since I was 10 (now 26) and through all those years I've never once seen a dead processor that wasn't physically damaged. It's almost always the motherboard or GPU these days. I'm not a regular watcher of your channel and I have to commend you for doing this for a viewer. You took a very logical approach without recklessly swapping parts in and out. It makes for great content and saves the viewer a lot of time and money. I wish more channels would make this a regular thing, although it would have to be a raffle as I'm sure there's too many requests for one person to fulfill.
I can watch your diagnostic videos for hours. A great job of narrowing it down to the CPU. A classic it's never the CPU until it is moment. This sort of reminds me of your video of the CPU with one bad memory channel. It can get very strange sometimes in the world of PC repair. Thanks for another great video!
Excellent job Greg! There's nothing more shocking than a dead CPU. I've been fortunate enough to have never seen one myself in over 30 years of PC building and servicing. I know how annoying that this can be and I salute you for your determined efforts.
I think that this will be an extremely successful series for you and I really like it because you really are helping people who don't know where to turn. (I mean, really, GEEK SQUAD???)
Yeah, same here I've repaired many computers but I have never come across a dead CPU in the last 30 years at least none that I can remember. The main deaths I see are hardrives ram slots even pci-e slot motherboards but never a CPU. When I went through the course the main call used to be no OS than you just tell them to take the floppy drive out. ;)
I've seen a dead CPU only from like, e-waste salvage. Usually stuff that's been left out in the elements before being broken down for parts - the CPU works fine during initial testing when the reseller pops it into a test bench, but the stress of actual sustained workloads pushes it over the edge and it dies after being used for actual work.
I've had 3 dead processors in 31 years of building and servicing. First was a Pentium D dual core, second was a Ryzen 2600, last was a 13600k.
Geek Squad was a massive contributor to my client list over the years, because of their poor customer service. lol
i like this series dude... i have 2 years saving for my new pc.. i hope to get it this year... it allways scares me this thing because in other country if the cpu or mobo are incompatible i'll have problems... said that... awesome work here
Hey greg, thanks for the detailed videos, I love watching and learning more about PCs. Helped me get into it now have built 6 pcs.
saddly he is incorrect. the error code 90 is boot device on msi boards not cpu error as he looked up. it really helps to take the time to use the proper manufactures codes.. using gigabyte as he did on a msi board will not help. he really dropped the ball and its clear if u look at the forum he looked up. gigabyte aorus master b550 forum.. LOL lets buy a new cpu because drive is broken , then still "upgrade" the drive to fix it.. anyways keep learning even if its by watching others mistakes
@@remedialjoe Agree on the error code part. However at 12:17 he did remove the hard drive and check.
I watch a lot of youtube troubleshooter videos (Ive been a tech myself for the last 42 years), and allow me to say that you are a good man. The fact that you dont charge these users says a lot from you.. .keep up the good work.
The whole shpeel at 4:00 just gained you a new sub and supporter. Great job. Keep it up, need more people like you in the world. Thank you!!!!!
This is an awesome educational video. I love computers but I am still very green in my knowledge of building computers and troubleshooting. Thank you for being so in depth. Now I know what to do if I get a similar issue.
It's nice to see someone willing to put the time into a project and see it to completion. Nice job.
I don't understand how Greg can be so kind, can you make a tutorial on that next?
I'm human! I've made plenty of mistakes. I've been a real prick to some folks. But I'm working to mature and help others wherever I can with the position I have in the content creator space. Our advertisers are also a huge help here :-)
@@GregSalazar It is fun watching you grow up to become a man ;)
@@GregSalazar sometimes people needs some tough love and be told this is how it is going to be-if your talking about the guy who wanted you to help but you kindly denied and sent you a nasty email he really deserved it to be frank, you might be human but your kindness sometimes gets in your way even on pc simulator /HAHAHA one stick of ram- your spending too much.......
Great video as always. I knew a 29 minute video wouldn't just be the simple solutions. I wanted to let you know that the Crucial SSD product placement was fantastic, a nice upgrade that will improve performance, and a surprise that the PC owner wasn't expecting.
It was simple tho.
Very interesting to watch you narrow down the issue and fix it eventually, it's a very comfortable video to watch. Keep it up
Former Geek Squad agent here (2008-2013). How good Geek Squad can be can vary wildly from store to store as the quality of the repairs you get depend on how good the technicians working on the stuff are. My store had mostly PC gaming & IT repair enthusiasts so we were damn good whether we had the right tools or not. But I eventually quit because management and corporate changed the way geek squad operates and made them far more sales oriented than repair oriented and I disagreed with that move. It horribly hampered us. Looks like that didn't get any better. Geek Squad gets alot of blind hate, unfortunately, but they certainly haven't done themselves any favors over the years.
This ^
Hi Greg, you can always use that small speaker. Attach it to any motherboard, listen to the beeps and then refer to user manual and look for that specific beep code to figure out what it means. You don't need that 7-segment LED display.
I’ve been building, maintaining, basic diagnosing (like here in Greg’s videos), upgrading etc all my pc for almost 25years as well as for family and friends as I enjoy the challenge of solving the problem. I can understand peoples frustration with this Geek Squad …. I assume is a US only based service …. But unlike one of Greg’s videos edited to fit a 20-35min time slot, some diagnosing can take minutes to hours to resolve depending on the situation … for example a GPU issue can be found generally within 30 mins (I have spare parts around to test in other systems) but if it’s a software issue in addition to a hardware issue and new motherboard is required, then a back up and software reinstall of Windows etc is needed….once you do all the drivers, software updates, programs etc …. You can spend an entire day. If you were to bill someone for that time and quote them a $200-$300USD for your time im sure many would be p’d off like what happens with many car services. I guess that’s why Geek Squad would do the quick tests and simply say “not worth the time” …. I don’t agree with it, but I understand why.
Understand why, don't understand why. Not the problem.
Taking money from someone after giving the shittiest customer service imaginable isn't just unethical, it's also scummy and should be illegal.
This is such a professional channel. The fact that he wears gloves during the build/troubleshooting shows the care taken to do it correctly. LOVE THIS CHANNEL!
Its more so the customers pc is dirty is why he wears gloves.
What I absolutely love about you is the fact that you are not at all cocky about what you do. There’s many people who believe they are high and mighty because they can troubleshoot severe PC problems, and desire everyone to pat them on the back.
You’re different though, you take something that you really love doing and make it work in a way that I don’t think anybody else could. Can anybody learn hardware and software troubleshooting on computers? Absolutely. But your unique twist And humble attitude make everything you do incredibly entertaining to watch. Thank you!
As a network installer I've run into a couple of geek squad guys and customer's homes. Their knowledge level never ceases to unimpress me lol.
As soon as I saw the Wraith Stealth cooler in there, and it's an ASRock motherboard, I knew the CPU was dead.
The problem may have been a dead CPU; however, what killed the CPU most likely is a combination of the motherboard's fan speed default to "Silent" and the Wraith Stealth not being a good option for the scenario.
When running the Wraith Stealth on ASRock's "Silent" speed, on the R5 3600, you will get 50°C+ on idle and 85°C up to 95°C under load! That combo does not tolerate a full 10 minutes multi-core test on Cinebench.
I know this because I just spotted this problem on my build. What I did is I changed the CPU fan speed to "Standard". That with the Wraith Stealth gives you 35°C on idle and about 80°C to 85°C under load with Cinebench test. Still hot. So, I installed a heatsink with dual fans. Now it's really cool at 22°C on idle and 55°C under load during Cinebench test.
I highly recommend this person to upgrade their cooling solution ASAP, and change their CPU fan speeds in the BIOS accordingly.
Yeah it was weird Greg didn't address possible thermal death as the reason
@@AlbionSupreme I emailed Greg about it because I would hate to see the same person go through the same thing. However, no response yet. Also, it is something all PC owners that push their hardware should be aware of; thermals are a serious thing. I hope the new CPU is okay.
Great video Greg 👍 really enjoyed watching you go through the process of elimination, super informative and interesting, thanks dude 🙌
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@GregSalazar Great Video Greg. What are your thoughts on New York States Right to Repair bill AKA S4104A? Which passed the Legislature in the fist session fo the 2021-2022 term.
Oh man, I am glad to have discovered this series. Really hits the spot.
I like the way you handle the participating owners as well.
Back in 2019 I bought a PC from Best Buy, lesson learned, and I put the HDMI in the motherboard instead of the Graphics Card. I was fairly new to pc building so I called geek squad and I remember this woman giving me an attitude like I was suppose to know this already. A year later I found out that every single part in the pc needed to be replaced so basically paid for a second pc 😑😑😑 and it took me years to finally do it and its a BEAST!!!
In ~18 years of PC building, I still can count the defective CPUs I've seen with one hand's fingers. Probably the most unlikely component to break.
if the cpu was always connected to fan cpu2 and not the primary fan controller, I would imagine it was probably overheating intermittently and finally did it in
In my experience these are the parts that break first:
PSU (Often overtaxed crud stock PSUs, especially from HP or Dell)
Main Board (It happens. Usually it is a component on the board and not the whole board.)
CPU (though increasingly less so... usually from fan failure and burned out in the past.)
RAM (I've bought ram that was bad.... I believe this may be the only bad ram I've ever encountered outside of a few sticks from a batch of a thousand used RAM that I got).
Laptops are a different story. Typically someone spills something into it so that kind of damage winds up being anything and people routinely break screens and hinges. People who don't take care of electronics have no business owning a laptop computer. They often will place them on a pillow or bedding covering up the cooling fans and exhaust. People are so dumb!!!!
In 27 years of building PCs.... I need 2 hands to count all the CPU failures I've seen.... They are typically the least common failure point, but it does happen.
Intel gets ALOT of flack. But AMD to me is kinda garbage on the QC side.
I had a faulty CPU that kept playing trick to make you BELIEVE, that it worked and the Motherboard was at fault. Once I bought a more expensive AMD CPU for another project - WALA ! No more crashes/blue screens/no nothing. I had a B550 board that would NOT let me update the BIOS, no matter what. I used the 2nd CPU, not the 1st one and it worked. I "believe" AMD needs to get rid of pins or PC building should just get rid of pins, overall.
@@Bonzi_Buddy About that with the laptops I would argue is the people designing the cooling layout that are making a bad job there :P The whole point of having a laptop is being able to put it in your "lap" (or pillow or whatever space you have around you)
I'm always betting with my friends what might be wrong after having the problems described. We both don't know much about PCs so it's just funny guessing. Anyway great video there, love the dedication :D
you don't "use" power from the battery to clear CMOS... you discharge the battery power that's keeping CMOS data active. Removing the battery is a way to clear CMOS too.
Always update the BIOS prior to installing newer CPU's in older mobo's... especially on the AMD platform..
In this type of situation one should have started at the core of the system ie. the CPU.
@Greg, you could get yourself a POST card, a mainstay of our troubleshooting kits, as the average motherboard does not have the diagnostics display and or connect a speaker to the 'board as beep codes are generally widely available as well
I just had an awesome Best Buy in store customer support experience, literally today, about an hour ago. I ordered an "open box excellent" HP 11 Windows tablet with keyboard cover. When I received it in the mail today, it was missing the power adapter. I explained the situation to the Best Buy customer service team at my local Best Buy.
Within 5 minutes, I was out the door with a brand new exchange of the same product, an apology, and a thank you. One of the best customer service experiences I have ever had. Located in Central Valley of CA. Granted it wasn't a tech support issue, but still... pretty great.
It's true that diagnosing should be much easier, letting the PC idle for more than 1 year is unfortunate. Even experienced person like you have to jump through the hoops to identify the issue tells it all.
Back in the day, and I still have one in mine, there was a speaker you plugged into MOBOs that beeps once when the system posts, or has various different beeping patterns for CPU/RAM/etc. issues. It would have picked this up within seconds of powering the system on and spat out the proper error beeps.
It's really a shame they're not common anymore.
to bad he's wrong error 90 on his msi board is boot device. not cpu error. he is looking at gigabyte forum for msi codes.. 😂😂
This doesn't look complicated at all.
20 years ago we had a mainboard, on it you had a Motherboard, and you had an additional expansion card for each kind of extra features you wanted.
Graphics card, Sound card (with connector for CDROM), network card, input card for DV cams.
Each card used some IRQ, you had to manage it yourself since the allocation was not handled automatically.
You didn't have enough memory, so you had to decide which drivers you load to low mem or high mem.
For coaxial networking you had to CUT the cable at exact lengths or the signal would get corrupted. You had to terminate the cable with 75Ohms.
A booting computer was a miracle.
Today it is so easy.
Case, PSU, GPU, CPU, Ram, Cooling (and storage).
You have to swap each of those until you find the one that was causing the problem. Going through like 5-6 hardware components is not hard. It doesn't take too much time as well.
The only requirement is having all the hardware on hand to perform the swaps which is something that most users don't have laying around like that.
I think that Greg's approach is the correct one. Down to the very first moment where he validates everything the customer said. Believe nothing. Test everything yourself.
this is how things get done and resolve in any topic.
@@remedialjoe He's looking at a forum post for a board that uses an AMI UEFI firmware, for AMI UEFI error codes...... AMI BIOS and UEFI all use the same error codes, regardless of motherboard model.
@@razorshark4 Haven't done coax networking in at least 2 decades.....but as "mainboard" and "motherboard" are synonyms, I don't recall having a system with 2..... My oldest system was an 8088 powered Packard Bell XT system..... It used a mainboard, a sound card, soldered ram, a serial port card, a parallel port card, a video display card (wasn't called a graphics card back then), and a PATA interface card..... The CPU was even soldered to the mainboard. Every expansion card was inserted into an ISA slot.... The only port connected to the mainboard was for the keyboard. Early Pentium systems had a special slot for a "COAST" or "cache on a stick" expansion card.... First generation Celeron and Pentium 3 processors installed like ram..... The processor was soldered to a card that installed in a slot on the motherboard.....
Asrock says they do not recomend using the bios versions for 5000 series on older cpus ryzen 3000 etc. It was stated in the yellow text on the download website. So even though it supports 5000 series doesen't mean it supports 3000 or 2000 etc
3000 series was called Matisse, which is not listed in the yellow text. Zen 2 CPUs still benefit from the newer AGESA versions and I have yet to see a B450/X470 or B550/X570(S) BIOS that does not support Zen 2 CPUs.
this guy should have more than 1 million subscribers!! I feel like Im working with him in each episode. Like wow his attention to detail is amazing. I find myself talking like if Im in the room with him lol. "Do you think it might be the mobo?" 😅
honestly glad you reminded me to subscribe been watching since the launch of this series, been a blast and have learned alot, keep the grind up man.
Welcome aboard!
i love how upfront you are, love the vids mate
I must say the gen 4 nvme going into a gen 3 board was the most searched for response from me that Ive been looking for awhile on google. The moment you pulled up with that, It was almost poetic, I was so happy to hear that! Definitely gonna make looking for nvmes a lot more simpler now.
great vid man...wish every pc troubleshooter is this thorough
this guy is amazing. his skill in fixing pc's is second to none. i would have never thought to start swamping in known good parts.
Greg, you're a good dude. I've learned quite a bit from you and was able to build my first pc last summer without any hiccups with the knowledge bestowed upon me from your videos. You upgrade peoples hardware with no cost to the pc owner and fix their broken pc. All around standup guy.
@Greg Salazar I am writing this before seeing the full video, but I had a similar problem in the past where all the fans would light up and spin but it wouldn't post, I thought the problem was with the motherboard after checking with another RAM stick and removing the GPU, but the problem was with the power supply, more precisely 1 3.3v wire from the 24 connector that goes to the motherboard. I replaced the PSU then and didn't think about it for a while but I found out about the wire when I needed a PSU for a project and I had to check each wire individually.
Subscribed, loved the walkthrough and respect for the computer system and your client.
I have been enjoying your repair videos. I am old to computers, but new to Ryzen, and the moment you said it had no graphics capability without a card I thought aha the Ryzen 5 3600, which was one of the few processors without graphics that I actually ended up with, I had no graphics with my discreet fanless GPU. I gave the card to a shop to test if it was the card, and it worked for them. Put it back in my system and it has worked flawlessly ever since... As a mostly office type PC with Video recording and photo processing, it has been a great tool.
this is one of my fav. ep you have uploaded. good work
I've been subscribed for a while Greg and I fully enjoy your videos and your diagnostic skills of broken pc's and also the build videos, cheers for your time making them, cheers from Australia.
0:09 you see the top 2 fans and the back fan(not the cpu fan) . and the 3 on the front. if there is 3. there is on mine, anyway. which way are they supposed to be facing ?
Always clear the CMOS! Even if it doesn't fix the problem, it's an important step in the diagnosis process.
Congrats on your little daughter man! Haven't watched you in over a year and wow what a surprise 🙏🤟
Welcome back!
Nice Work Greg. Your Verbal Dialog was perfect for the average guy. Excellent Video.
Thank you kindly!
Damn, you are THE BOSS! Going out of your way to repair systems and even get replacement parts. You ROCK!
thx lil dude wit big brain, love the the trial and error steps you take, really helps us pleebs understand the varied stuff that can happen
Video was quite informative actually, gf's gaming pc is also not displaying anything but a black screen. While i dont have the money or components to check the cpu or motherboard its definitely good to finally find a video that explored more than just the graphics card or resetting the bios. You've earned a subscribe my good sir!
Nice Job! I'm working on two computers with similar problems. It's always nice when you have enough parts to switch out. Nice video that I'm sure will help many people.
Had the same problem here. I was messaging around with voltage in the MOBO one day with my 3600x and next thing you know, I got no POST. Luckily, had warranty on MOBO + CPU, so decided to ship them in RMA. Few weeks later came back new and back to running again.
Every country should have a youtuber like you!!
before watching this video i think its broken pins on motherboard or need a bios update or if its amd the cpu pins are messed up. or just need to clear the CMOS
Well, we don't have Geek Squad at my place here, but i overheard conversation at my local pc store with costumer, and just to format a PC cost roughly 12 usd..i just like...WHAT!!??
I troubleshoot very much like you when a friend comes to me with a PC problem, but I sure don't have a PSU tester. I have been in to computers for a long time, and I don't know how i haven't heard more about them... That is a neat gadget for sure. I'm impressed. If you don't mind me asking, how much does one generally cost? Great content, thank you!
I would always recommend getting a motherboard speaker connector kit. This allows you to connect to the motherboard speaker pins and listen to the beep codes. Many a faulty CPU/RAM/GPU combination was found using this technique. Shame the newer motherboards stopped shipping built in speakers. Update: I just saw he had one sitting on the desk right corner around the 12:00 minute mark
I had the same computer and it melted down and had the exact same problem!!!! Geek squad could not fix, and luckily I had a warranty and got store credit. My card was a 3080, but I could not get a picture to my screen. It just stopped working after 5 months. Glad to know it wasent something I did.
I'm usually very easily distracted, but found myself clued to the seat while you worked on the computer. Great video and educational at that.
So funny thing about what you said around the 20:15 mark, my original CPU in my latest build was this same one and lasted all of two weeks maybe before it died, with no outside interference or changes. Not as rare as it may seem to be sometimes
I used to work in a small internet cafe that also sold PC parts/basic systems and stuff. This was back in about 2004, and we would charge what amounts to 5 USD as an inspection fee to cover a basic once-over on faulty machines. Check/swap ram, GPU, PSU etc. We would try the obvious, if it was something else we told them to book it in so we could invest more time on it, but that cost more obviously. $100 just sounds crazy to me for someone to spend 10 minutes looking at a machine and saying "nope".
Been building PC's since the late 90's. Enjoy your videos, let's people know that there are many options and things to check. You all have the power to fix things! lol
I had an issue like this when I was young and knew nothing about computers. I sat on the floor with a screw driver and began what has been 25 years of learning. Sometimes it's best to tackle the issues on your own. I'm glad I did though because now I build all my own machines
Greg, don't know if someone already commented, but when you unplug HDMI cable from GPU in order to plug it in different HDMI slot, you need to power cycle in order to get picture out. If you were in Windows, that wouldn't be a problem.
Now that's very rare problem with a computer. I think I might got the same just once in my current working years (over 15 years). And I do need to get that kind of motherboard where it shows error messages for the testbenching. Cheers for a great video!
I swapped in a 1080ti to my system the other day, and then switched CPU's too. Pc turned on but no display. Then i remembered had to probably update the Display Port firmware on the card as it was older. CMOS reset got me into the system thank god, updated DP firmware, all done! I love having so many different issues with my personal PC as it increases my problem solving skills for others I build for
Display port is notorious for being finicky. 30 series cards never have issues showing display right away. Motherboard legacy mode support being off is also another issue ive run into thats very annoying. Just some food for thought
Keep helping out the little guys Greg!
I've been working on systems for the last 30 years and have troubleshot many many issues. You video series is great for those people who less experienced or those in a bind. Thank you!
30 years? That's pretty good experience for a 28-year-old.
Man this videos are so nice rly good work i watched the whole list in not even a week. Keep it up its so cool :D
As a former PC repair tech, I am refreshed that someone actually has good diagnostic skills. One thing that really does concern me is the messing around with fans whilst the machine is powered on. Micro sparking can and frequently does create surges that dont do circuits any good. Personally everything thats not connected stay disconnected till its powered off and the mains lead is out.
Man I love your videos so much, I been learning a lots, you have no idea how much I appreciate you, you're a legend for the PC gamers, well actually not only us, the whole PC community, from gamers, to editor's, hopefully God bless you with many many many years of life not only for us to enjoy your content, but for your family to have such a nice human being as a husband and as a dad.
had to subscribe since your content is so genuine, keep up the good work💯
Good troubleshooting procedure
Awesome video. Excellent troubleshooting.
Great Video! Had a similar issue with a new build and it ended up being a firmware issue! Took me three days to fix because I don't have extra chips hanging around and had to order it. Enjoyed reliving sucess!
Former Geek Squad advanced repair agent here.
At GS we never worked on hardware issues that could not be fixed with a product sold in the store. We could replace SSDs, HDDs, CMOS, RAM, and some other basic components. If we did not have the product in the store, it could get shipped out to a repair facility in Kentucky for a high price.
It's not that "all GS precincts are bad" its that some do not have advanced repair agents and only have consultation agents (repair agents do repairs, consultation agents check in the PC and diagnose it).
Nicely done, very professional.
Really great troubleshooting information in this video! Thanks.
See you RUclips computer guys are so much better to give broken pc to because this is you're guys passion unlike geek squad where it's there job. You guys take every step possible. So idk who's pc this is but I wanna say thank you for your passion
That computer popped right back to life. I'm so glad you were able to fix it.